Its been a sad and strange couple of weeks for fans of Marvel Animation.
Just last week, Marvel Studios announced that Disney XD will premiere a
new animated series based on the Ultimate Spider-Man comics. This news effectively crushes any hope about a potential third season for the current Spider-Man cartoon Spectacular Spider-Man, which appears to be over after 26 episodes.
But things got stranger when Marvel announced that their hit series Wolverine and the X-Men would also not return for another season. This comes as the greatest shock, as it was announced that a second season had
already been greenlit, even before the first season began airing on NickToons in the US. Even more shocking is the sudden cancellation, despite the shows
unprecedented success on the NickToons network.
At C2E2 this past weekend, panelists Joe Quesada, Arune Singh, and Josh Fine were on hand to shed some light on Marvels upcoming animation slate. On the subject of Wolverine, they said that they were unable to work out the financing for the show with their financing partner, and so will not be moving forward with season 2.
Fine said that there will be a press release coming to clarify the matter of Spectaculars final fate, since its also a matter of Sony producing that show and the character coming back to Marvel. When asked how Ultimate Spider-Man will be different, Quesada only said, I cant say much. Its too early
Its a different kind of Spider-Man show, but its still Spider-Man at the end of the day, and that its a bigger show than Spectacular in scope.
There has been speculation for months about the uncertain future of Spectacular Spider-Man, so its cancellation, though unfortunate, is not all that surprising. More surprising is the decision to essentially hit the reset button by replacing one relatively young Spider-Man cartoon with another one, rather than simply renewing it for another season and continuing the already established story.
Spectaculars showrunner Greg Weisman posted a
message to fans, saying I try to be grateful for what I did get. I got to tell 26 fun stories, and on the new series, I wouldnt want Ultimate Spidey to be judged on anything other than itself. Because thats all I wanted for Spectacular.
As for Marvels other animated shows, Super Hero Squad and Iron Man Armored Adventures, were both mentioned at the C2E2 panel and appear to be on track for their respective sophomore seasons. Although if a show as wildly successful as Wolverine and the X-Men cant make it, its hard to be sure of anything these days.